Bahrain launches region’s first fintech venture studio

Bahrain launches region’s first fintech venture studio

Bahrain will be home to the Mena region’s first fintech venture studio that plans to co-found startups and streamline fundraising.

Resulting from a collaboration between Al Waha Fund of Funds and international investment firm Hambro Perks, HP Spring Studios aims to be an active member of the local fintech ecosystem, investing, developing talent, participating in events, and promoting the country as an investment destination, it has emerged.

An in-house team covering the full capability spectrum across product, engineering, and operations will help accelerate startups towards product/market fit.

The studio would also look to create new highly-skilled jobs in Bahrain, on both its core team and at the startups it helps to launch.

Al Waha and Hambro Perks’ said they would bring to startups, their local and global network of private and public institutions, including National Bank of Bahrain, Mumtalakat, and Batelco, to drive customer traction and secure future funding rounds to exit.

Startups in the kingdom also stand to benefit from a fintech friendly regulatory environment and close relationships with the Central Bank of Bahrain and the Economic Development Board to enable rapid launch to market.

Managed by Bahrain Development Bank and founded with a corpus of $100 million in 2018, Al Waha offers capital to